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You Know You're A Roadgeek If...

Started by Michael, June 09, 2009, 04:52:39 PM

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Chris

- You know all 100,000 + cities in the U.S. though you don't even live there  :-P


njroadhorse

- When you are riding your bike, you're a strict road rider.
- You have mastered taking pictures from your bike
- Your favorite books are your atlases
- You immediately go to the travel section of a book store upon entering
- On vacation, you make a point to find a book store to see what atlases they have
NJ Roads FTW!
Quote from: agentsteel53 on September 30, 2009, 04:04:11 PM
I-99... the Glen Quagmire of interstate routes??

tmthyvs

Quote from: agentsteel53 on June 25, 2009, 08:43:25 PM
Your grandparents live around Cannon Falls, MN.

don't know where you live, because I'm guessing you approached the Minn/St. Paul area from the west, but ND highway 1 hits the 52 *after* it runs into I-94... and I don't see a highway 39 anywhere in the area!

... or how that all becomes 2100 miles.
You're within about 200 miles. Oh, and to get the full 2100 miles, you need to go a lot further on some of those highways than you've taken me so far. I think you have the right 52, 94, 494, and 35.

Michael

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I just made a purchase that fits here.
...you buy a hard copy of the MUTCD.
(It was 50 bucks on eBay!)

US71

Quote from: Michael on February 28, 2012, 10:08:41 AM
Sorry to bump an old thread, but I just made a purchase that fits here.
...you buy a hard copy of the MUTCD.
(It was 50 bucks on eBay!)

Shoot! I missed it :(
Like Alice I Try To Believe Three Impossible Things Before Breakfast

agentsteel53

Quote from: Michael on February 28, 2012, 10:08:41 AM
Sorry to bump an old thread, but I just made a purchase that fits here.
...you buy a hard copy of the MUTCD.
(It was 50 bucks on eBay!)

what year?
live from sunny San Diego.

http://shields.aaroads.com

jake@aaroads.com

formulanone

#56
- If you have notebook with the road/route/interstate numbers you've driven on and clinched.

- If you do the same thing with a highlighter and a map, noting the month and date of its conquest.

- If you go 2 hours out of your way to snap oddly-named street blades that might impress family and friends.

- If you tell your wife to be on the lookout for colored US shields when she goes somewhere (I suppose this is mostly a Florida-thing).


texaskdog

If youve ever taken a map and redrawn the roads the way you think they should be

If youve ever made your own imaginary map of an imaginary country/state/etc that only consisted of roads (incl drawing the exit ramps)

If you not only have a road map on your wall but youve drawn in a few roads that you think should be there

If, every time you travel somewhere with your girlfriend, you point out the old highway...even if only an educated guess

bassoon1986

you argue with your GPS about the route it suggests or the wrong highway numbers it says

friends call you from other cities they are lost in and you are not there

get aggravated when Google street view doesn't move as fast as you'd like, or when it doesn't have street view for a particular street or angle you want to see

you're constantly trying to read signs on the opposite direction on an interstate as you drive by to see what is changed from the other way

you made roads with exits out of crayons as a kid for your toy cars to drive on

US71

Quote from: bassoon1986 on February 28, 2012, 01:37:30 PM

friends call you from other cities they are lost in and you are not there

When I worked for Road Runner, I always got called upon to give directions to lost motorists. The running joke was I enjoyed telling people where to go and exactly how to get there  ;)
Like Alice I Try To Believe Three Impossible Things Before Breakfast

texaskdog

Quote from: bassoon1986 on February 28, 2012, 01:37:30 PM
you argue with your GPS about the route it suggests or the wrong highway numbers it says 

true roadgeeks dont even own a GPS

agentsteel53

Quote from: texaskdog on February 28, 2012, 03:33:58 PM

true roadgeeks dont even own a GPS

true roadgeeks don't use a map.  they just ... know.
live from sunny San Diego.

http://shields.aaroads.com

jake@aaroads.com

Takumi

You get irked when maps on TV and on flyers in the mail use the wrong shield for a route
Quote from: Rothman on July 15, 2021, 07:52:59 AM
Olive Garden must be stopped.  I must stop them.

Don't @ me. Seriously.

formulanone

#63
Quote from: agentsteel53 on February 28, 2012, 03:40:49 PM
Quote from: texaskdog on February 28, 2012, 03:33:58 PM

true roadgeeks dont even own a GPS

true roadgeeks don't use a map.  they just ... know.

Admittedly, it's fun driving around not knowing, and then using the GPS to dig myself out...although usually if there's a deadline situation (be there by 1pm sharp!) for places I've never been before.

I also confess to not caring about what the basic layout of the interstate system of a state or city until I need to go there. Otherwise, my brain just files it away rather poorly.

texaskdog

#64
Quote from: agentsteel53 on February 28, 2012, 03:40:49 PM
Quote from: texaskdog on February 28, 2012, 03:33:58 PM

true roadgeeks dont even own a GPS

true roadgeeks don't use a map.  they just ... know.

I've taken roadtrips and strange sideroads and years later can find those very roads...not that it impresses any of YOU :)  Like driving south from Keystone, SD, the "Center Lake shortcut" which cuts 2/3 of the time off driving to Wind Cave NP.  I used my GPS in my rental car just to see if it picked stupid routes. 

Post Merge: April 04, 2012, 07:49:38 PM

You get irked when US 81 is still on your Austin map...in one that wasnt printed in the last few years....not to mention still listed on Google Maps.

kphoger

#65
Quote from: texaskdog on February 28, 2012, 03:33:58 PM
Quote from: bassoon1986 on February 28, 2012, 01:37:30 PM
you argue with your GPS about the route it suggests or the wrong highway numbers it says 

true roadgeeks dont even own a GPS

AAAAAAAMEN!

Post Merge: April 04, 2012, 07:49:50 PM

You know you're a roadgeek if....
you're on here to begin with.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

vtk

...If you cringe when overhearing someone give bad directions.

By the way, a distinction needs to be made between GPS and automated navigation.  The first is useful for making good maps of new roads, particularly when coupled with track logging.  The second may or may not be coupled with first, and is useful to a point, but not a good substitute for a human with good maps and ability to use them – and it's shocking how so many people have become so dependent on this technology, especially the GPS-based turn-by-turn variety.
Wait, it's all Ohio? Always has been.

broadhurst04

...you get really steamed when an interstate loop is assigned an odd number instead of even.

...you spent hours as a child taking virtual road trips by studying an interstate highway in an atlas and then making hundreds of drawings depicting what you think the green signs at each interchange says (in sequential order).

...you wish your DOT had elected to tunnel through a mountain instead of blasting through it

...you were invited to tour a TV station as a kid and you actually asked someone at the station for directions to get to the studios

...you were suggesting shortcuts to your dad on vacations as a kid because you arrived at the terminus of a particular route and you knew that it would get him where he wanted to go faster because you had seen it intersect with the route you took earlier in the day after you left home

Alps

Quote from: agentsteel53 on February 28, 2012, 11:11:34 AM
Quote from: Michael on February 28, 2012, 10:08:41 AM
Sorry to bump an old thread, but I just made a purchase that fits here.
...you buy a hard copy of the MUTCD.
(It was 50 bucks on eBay!)

what year?

I'm holding onto a 1967?9? from my job that was going to be junked.

AsphaltPlanet

You leave your driveway in the morning for a day of driving without having a set destination in mind.
AsphaltPlanet.ca  Youtube -- Opinions expressed reflect the viewpoints of others.

kphoger

You're floored, utterly amazed, when someone doesn't know that mileposts reset to zero at the state line.
You just thought of a counterexample to mileposts resetting to zero at the state line.
You can identify an out-of-state license plate from the other side of the median while driving 70 mph.
You know fine points about traffic laws in states you've never been to.
You've ever gone from one pavement surface to another and said, 'Oh, yeah, now THIS is what I'm talking about!'
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

Dr Frankenstein

Quote from: AsphaltPlanet on February 28, 2012, 09:24:20 PM
You leave your driveway in the morning for a day of driving without having a set destination in mind.
Or you choose the day's destination from the geohashing algorithm. Extra points if you cover more than one graticule in the same day.

elsmere241

Quote from: broadhurst04 on February 28, 2012, 08:59:42 PM
...you were suggesting shortcuts to your dad on vacations as a kid because you arrived at the terminus of a particular route and you knew that it would get him where he wanted to go faster because you had seen it intersect with the route you took earlier in the day after you left home


. . . your father designated you as navigator on vacations, in helping select the route, following it in the Rand McNally, and looking for BGSes up ahead

1995hoo

Quote from: elsmere241 on February 29, 2012, 09:29:44 AM
Quote from: broadhurst04 on February 28, 2012, 08:59:42 PM
...you were suggesting shortcuts to your dad on vacations as a kid because you arrived at the terminus of a particular route and you knew that it would get him where he wanted to go faster because you had seen it intersect with the route you took earlier in the day after you left home


. . . your father designated you as navigator on vacations, in helping select the route, following it in the Rand McNally, and looking for BGSes up ahead

Or (in my case) your father designated you as navigator and didn't bat an eye when you didn't bother with the maps (though we had AAA maps, not Rand McNally).
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

texaskdog

When you're riding with someone and you cringe as they miss the exit you would have taken but don't say anything because you don't want to be disrespectful.  Two minutes later they lament that they think they missed the exit.



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